Graduation Year

2026

Graduation Month

May

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

School or Department

Wildlife Biology

Major

Wildlife Biology – Terrestrial

Faculty Mentor Department

Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences

Faculty Mentor

Angela Luis

Faculty Reader(s)

Creagh Breuner, Scott Wetzel

Keywords

deer mice, immune response, white blood cells

Abstract

Sin Nombre Virus (SNV) is an exceptional model system for studying wildlife disease because of how simple it is to capture, take samples, and obtain disease status from the primary host. Immune response is an important factor to consider when testing for SNV because it can affect susceptibility of the host as well as transmission of the virus. We examined individual and environmental conditions that may predict immune response and therefore possibly SNV transmission in wild populations. We investigated whether SNV infection status, reproductive status, sex, and season correlate with immune response through examining total white blood cell (WBC) counts and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratios (NLRs). Across a trapping period of three years, we caught deer mice from six different trapping grids across western Montana. There was a total of 1065 mice captured from all six sites and 79 were SNV positive. Out of the total number caught, 236 blood smears from one trapping location were analyzed for this study. Results show that year and SNV are predictors of total white blood cell counts while season, year, and reproductive status are predictors of NLRs. Our results provide a coarse but easily obtainable immune assessment from a field study to offer insights into deer mice immune system and SNV interactions.

Honors College Research Project

1

GLI Capstone Project

no

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© Copyright 2026 Rachel A. Throckmorton and Angela Luis